February 16, 2011
By Staff Reporter
St. Raymond’s even had the luxury of missing a penalty in each half as they maintained their unbeaten run this year in the championship and now face the winners of this Sunday’s clash between Cavan or Offaly in the final.
Kenny Cox had fired Roscommon into an early lead with two points before Raymond’s got into gear, John O’Driscoll, Mike Cregan and Aidan O’Driscoll edging the favorites in front.
That looked set to be further extended when John O’Driscoll stepped up to take a penalty only to be denied by a great save from John Stack.
Raymond’s didn’t skip a beat, though, and sent over four unanswered points from Adrian O’Driscoll, C.J. Doherty and Dowd (two) to leave them 0-7 to 0-2 in front.
Adrian O’Driscoll added another before the break, but Roscommon had not given up the fight and three points before the interval kept them in touch with Raymond’s at halftime, trailing by just three at 0-5 to 0-8.
Raymond’s got the cushion they needed soon after the restart when given a second bite at the cherry from the penalty spot. This time Dowd took responsibility and he found the back of the net by drilling his kick straight down the middle.
A point from substitute Cyril Donnellan stretched their advantage to seven at 1-9 to 0-5 before Roscommon made changes in personnel, bringing on David Kelly and Niall Naughton.
Naughton went straight into action with point and there was tit for tat as Adrian O’Driscoll and Andy O’Connor exchanged points.
But then Dowd took command, scoring four unanswered points in succession with a fifth from Donnellan to send the game beyond Roscommon’s reach.
Kenny Cox again got on the scoreboard with a point for Roscommon, but it was already a lost cause, a fact rammed home by Dowd who replied instantly with a point followed by scores from teammates Donnellan and Mike Cregan.
Roscommon completed the scoring with a goal at the death from Cox to bring a little more credibility to the final scoreline but that will not worry St. Raymond’s as they march onward and upward to the Junior B final.
St. Raymond’s: Cathal Quinn; Tom Hoey, Kieran McKenna, Mike Killeen; Brendan Duggan, Mark Comerford, Brendan Wiley; Gary Dowd, C.J. Doherty; Shay Furlong, Eamon Mahon, Mike Cregan; John O’Driscoll, John O’Donoghue, Adrian O’Driscoll.
Roscommon: John R. Stack; Sean Carney, Paul Levins, Ivan Connolly; Andy O’Connor, Aidan Traynor, Darren O?Neill; John Walsh, Daniel O?Sullivan; Liam Casey, Kenny Cox, Darragh Gaffney; Joe Murray, Aiden Smyth, Aiden Murray.